Cant record HD from TataSky HDPVR using AVerTV CaptureHD H727, i get a blank video.

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sanjiv

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Record HD from TataSky HDPVR using AVerTV CaptureHD H727, no more blank videos.

I bought a AVerTV CaptureHD H727 from flipkart recently because primeabgb said it would take around 20-30 days to ship Hauppauge Colossus which was not acceptable.

Besides the H727 was cheaper had HDCP support unlike DarkCrystal HD Capture Pro and a free DVB-T tuner. The problem has evident since i got the card and set it up i cant record anything in trure HD aka 1080i/720P. I have to lower the resolution to below 720P to record HD channels.

I have tried directly hooking up tatasky box with the H727 via HDMI and also tried it with the splitter but i get the same problem i cant record anything HD "StarWorld HD, etc" when i have selected 720p/1080i in the box. I have used the latest version of mediacenter and it has the same result :(

The weird thing is if this was an HDCP issue i should not be able to record anything via HDMI not even below 720P which i am able to do.

Setting that work for capturing all the channels are as following:

576p selected on Tatasky Box
Mediacenter software capture set on H264 @ 720p "Eats a lot of CPU so i guess no H264 acceleration provided by the H727 card :("


If i select 720p or 1080i on the tatasky box the resulted video is blank i do get the proper audio be it AC3 or PCM but the video is pitch black, Any solutions would be welcome...


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SOLUTION:

Ok so i have traced the key software and directions needed to capture 1080i from Tatasky HD+. It is now simple enough and can be done by anyone so lets go down to it shall we-

Install AVerTV CaptureHD H727 CD drivers not new ones
Install the AVerMedia Application
Install VirtualDub
Install codes you want for real time encode such as MP4, this will be done by the CPU so u need a powerhouse

Now Audio from HDMI can be captured but it will be dual channel only i have no idea how to capture multi-channel audio from tatasky, even using AC3 or AAC does not make a difference its always dual channel.

Lets move on to the Tatasky box just attach the hdmi cable to the box and the H727 and you are good to go.

Open AVerMedia Application and dont press anything let it run in thhe background.
Now open VirtualDub and make sure AVerMedia Application is still open.
In VirtualDub select the correct stream, this is the Uncompressed Preview Stream that your Tatasky Box has decoded and has sent to your TV to display but there is a catch it is encrypted again by the tatasky box.
You can now record 1080i with ease just remmber not to close the AVerMedia Application or the video will be blank.

I have used this trick to record the below videos which are hosted on youtube they are embedded in this post.
 
i dont really know how these systems work, but i think it has to do with the config of your pc.
could you provide us with your complete rig specs??
 
actually you bought the wrong product. give it back saying it does not work. Tatasky broadcasts HD channels in mpeg4 and SD channels in mpeg2, whereas your tuner only supports mpeg2 capture. read the product specs carefully before buying next time. and 20 days wait for colossus is worth it.
 
6pack said:
actually you bought the wrong product. give it back saying it does not work. Tatasky broadcasts HD channels in mpeg4 and SD channels in mpeg2, whereas your tuner only supports mpeg2 capture. read the product specs carefully before buying next time. and 20 days wait for colossus is worth it.
Click to expand...

Flipkart did not agree with me they said no refund or product change :(

On the bright side i got it working using the Mediacenter software but this was not on the HTPC since its dual core CPU was not up to the task. After days of searching i found the answer AVerTV CaptureHD H727 is HDCP enabled one can preview Tatasky HD channels but not capture them there is how ever a way to use the "Uncompressed Preview Stream" for encoding but this has to be real-time. Using VirtualDub to encode the "Uncompressed Preview Stream" to MP4 real time took all of my cores and the end result is a 1080i MP4 file.


I will upload a few examples soon but these MP4's are not the high-bit ones they are too huge too upload.

My rig config:

i7 3770
Z77 Asus
7770 CF
CaptureHD H727
2TB HDD

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DqjywSNX6JE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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tatasky hd is not hdcp encrypted. so dont know what you're talking of when you say you cannot record 1080i stream. what do you mean by uncompressed preview stream?
 
6pack said:
tatasky hd is not hdcp encrypted. so dont know what you're talking of when you say you cannot record 1080i stream. what do you mean by uncompressed preview stream?
Click to expand...

Off course it is i am using HDMI the component does not output 1080i anymore, When you record with your Hauppauge Colossus you use HDMI or component??

I think all DTH HD content providers use HDCP too protect their content.
 
^ I think you require hdfury to enable recording of hdcp'd content via that card of yours. Few months back I was searching around and I came across some thread where some guy had "cracked" the avertv's software which enabled the hdcp recording. Try googling it up.

6pack the thing you mentioned is not related to his issue as the OP is not using a satellite pci capture card which needs to have dvb-s2 (mpeg4) or dvb-s (mpeg2) decoding.The card he is using is merely capturing the video output from the STB (the mpeg4 thing is already decoded/taken care by the STB) using the hdmi connection.
 
Component does not output 1080i? Are you sure? i just saw a day or two back, a tv serial in 1080i on component. It was a bit blurry because of the old cable i used. in fact i'm using component on colossus now. i've connected hdmi directly to my monitor.

i have used hdmi in past to view or record tv channels. stopped recording from about half a year though. hdmi is not copy protected. even colossus does not support copying from copy protected streams. there's no channel worth encrypting in india anyway. all the tv serials are either a few years old (and already widely available on net) or plain trash. the few good serials (in english) are obnoxiously butchered by censors and have huge self promotions blocking the subtitles and video below the ads for bottom 1/4th of the screen during the serial. Totally not worth copying imo.

@SpaceVoid, what you said is true. decoding is done by the stb. hdmi output would be uncompressed stream of around 8-12 MBps along with audio i suppose. so possibly it could be capturing software /hardware limitations.
 
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SpaceVoid said:
^ I think you require hdfury to enable recording of hdcp'd content via that card of yours. Few months back I was searching around and I came across some thread where some guy had "cracked" the avertv's software which enabled the hdcp recording. Try googling it up.

6pack the thing you mentioned is not related to his issue as the OP is not using a satellite pci capture card which needs to have dvb-s2 (mpeg4) or dvb-s (mpeg2) decoding.The card he is using is merely capturing the video output from the STB (the mpeg4 thing is already decoded/taken care by the STB) using the hdmi connection.
Click to expand...

hdfury is just too expensive i had searched for it on ebay but it was too expensive. I have found a way to record 1080i content directly via the HDMI but it requires real time encoding and resulted video is not as great as it could have been and after googling for 2-3 days straight. Now i am wondering how to offload the live encoding MP4/H264 to the AMD Gpu still trying to find a way :P



6pack said:
Component does not output 1080i? Are you sure? i just saw a day or two back, a tv serial in 1080i on component. It was a bit blurry because of the old cable i used. in fact i'm using component on colossus now. i've connected hdmi directly to my monitor.

i have used hdmi in past to view or record tv channels. stopped recording from about half a year though. hdmi is not copy protected. even colossus does not support copying from copy protected streams. there's no channel worth encrypting in india anyway. all the tv serials are either a few years old (and already widely available on net) or plain trash. the few good serials (in english) are obnoxiously butchered by censors and have huge self promotions blocking the subtitles and video below the ads for bottom 1/4th of the screen during the serial. Totally not worth copying imo.
Click to expand...

TataSky had disabled 1080i/720p output in their box's using a software update several months ago, new box's have HD via component disabled from the get go. Only HDMI supports 1080i/720p Tatasky had sent me a letter saying that the content providers are the one who requested the change. You can find threads of it if you google such as this No HD on component out after software update .

It might be you are one of the lucky ones whose box either does not support HDCP or has not gotten the update for some reason. The issues i am facing are due to HDCP restrictions it turns out that even top end card dont support hdcp capture via hdmi they only way left are work arounds...
 
SpaceVoid said:
^ Have you tried capturing uncompressed or using the huffyuv codec (lossless? but smaller sizes as compared to truly uncompressed) in virtualdub ? The only thing you would need is chunks of space :p

Huffyuv
Just install it, it will show up in virtualdub.

Also do try some other third party recording softwares. I dont know which one works in your case though.
Click to expand...

Have it installed even tried MPEG2 but they dont use more than one core, my 3770 has 4 physical cores out of which only 1 is used for either of the two :(. Only MP4 and H264 use all the cores not to mention MPEG2 resulted in a huge huge file and i guess huffyuv will do the same.
 
My box got updated recently a month back i think. Probably since its an old almost 2yr old box component out might still be working. i think your problem lies with the capturing software you're using. try using media player classic to view the hd stream. or try Arcsoft Showbiz trial version. The free version of it is given with hauppauge. i still prefer wintv v7 to capture or view.
there's also a freeware mediacenter software - MediaPortal I think it needs dot net to work properly.
 
SpaceVoid said:
Try fraps for recording :) may be it might work.
Click to expand...

Will do all i remember about FRAPS is FPS counter fr games now it can capture wow. :D

6pack said:
My box got updated recently a month back i think. Probably since its an old almost 2yr old box component out might still be working. i think your problem lies with the capturing software you're using. try using media player classic to view the hd stream. or try Arcsoft Showbiz trial version. The free version of it is given with hauppauge. i still prefer wintv v7 to capture or view.
there's also a freeware mediacenter software - MediaPortal I think it needs dot net to work properly.
Click to expand...

Even on my box component works but not at 720p/1080i instead at 567p. I cant use media player classic it does not work to preview the stream from HDMI for some reason its ok with analog tough. As for Arcsoft and Media portal will try it asap.

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Thanks to SpaceVoid i have an update for people who are stuck in a similar situation. I am trying the solution pointed out by him and will report back and i will update the main post with the solution that worked i have retraced most of the software i used to capture 1080i from the HDCP stream.

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UPDATED the main post with the solution will change the title also to reflect the same..
 
UPDATE: After almost 5 months the AVerTV CaptureHD H727 has shown its true colors I mean its gone nuts. The image now comes up with weird corruption in the lower part of the image this is true even when i tried the new drivers or with another computer thus its a hardware fault and i am very angry with the quality no other cards PCI/PCIe were spoiled so moister cant be a case.

Called up flipkart they said to get in touch with AVerTV whose response I am still waiting for after i sent them a mail on their support page.

ss1tf.jpg


Those green bars are not suppose to be there... :(
 
Sad to hear that. Btw, the new update on the HD+ box shows TV properties in system settings from the last update. It also shows hdcp status of connected device. :eek:
 
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